What is this shell??

[chris vickery]

Was there ever an artillery school or range in the area?
If not directly in the vicinity found it could be an overshoot out of bounds.
If in fact it is a 6", remember these guns were used almost 100 years ago and the history could be lost.
We have had a few recent "rediscoveries" in recent years of long forgotten about bombing ranges, usually when construction companies decide to develop areas for new housing projects.
I find it odd that a souvenir would end up buried in a field. Maybe found in a barn or shed it would make sense but ploughed up doesn't unless it was deliberately put there.

[Lynn Eades]

So ha it been measured for exact dia.?
What about a 155? or a 5.5" ?
Only making suggestions as I don't have any ideas as to what their projectiles look like.
It's not something an ordinary soldier would cart back from Europe in his kit bag.

[anthony urek]

Exactly 6" in diameter.

[jack neville]

There has never been an army camp let alone an artillery or bombing range anywhere near Avoca. More information is required on exactly where it was unearthed. Many of the shallow alluvial goldfields have been rehabilitated over the years and returned to useful farm land by levelling the old holes and mulloch heaps. Additionally there are hundreds of old minors huts and settlers huts that have long disappeared in the area. The only tell tale signs are a scattering of fruit trees or the appearance of annual flowers that tell you a dwelling of little substance once stood there. A war time relic could easily have been discarded in a shallow hole or left abandoned around a crumbling house. Every farmer had a 'tip' in their back paddock.

[motto (RIP)]

The nose cone or fuse being missing would indicate to me human intervention at some time after having been fired.
Most likely scenario would be theft by some light fingered citizen soldier that later became an embarrassment and was disposed of by burying.
I've seen all of the above mentioned acts in my time.

David